‍

At a ceremony in St Peter’s Basilica on Ascension Thursday, Pope Francis solemnly proclaimed the upcoming Jubilee Year 2025, consigning the Bull of Indiction – “Spes non confundit. Hope does not disappoint” – to the Archpriests of the Papal Basilicas and representatives of the world’s bishops.

The Jubilee – which has the theme "Pilgrims of Hope" - will offer people across our global community of faith an important opportunity to re-establish a proper relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation.

In Spes non confundit, as reported by Vatican News, Pope Francis announces that the Jubilee Year will begin with the opening of the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve, 2024.

Later, on 29 December, the Pope will open the Holy Door of the Archbasilica of St John Lateran, the Cathedral of Rome. On the same day, every Cathedral and co-Cathedral throughout the world will have Mass celebrated by the local Bishop to mark the opening of the Jubilee.

“In the course of the year,” Pope Francis writes, “every effort should be made to enable the People of God to participate fully in its proclamation of hope in God’s grace and in the signs that attest to their efficacy.”

The Jubilee will end in the particular Churches throughout the world on 28 December 2025, with the Holy Doors of St John Lateran, St Mary Major, and St Paul’s Outside the Walls being closed on that same date. And finally, the Jubilee Year will draw to a close in Rome on the Solemnity of Epiphany, 6 January 2026.

‍

An opportunity to be renewed in hope

“Everyone knows what it is to hope,” the Pope wrote in the introduction to the Bull. “In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future will bring.”

Expressing his desire that the Jubilee might be “an opportunity for us to be renewed in hope, Pope Francis recalled that pilgrimage is “a fundamental event of every Jubilee event,” traditionally associated with the human quest for the meaning of life. The artistic masterpieces and the beauty of creation we see on our journey inspire us to praise and thank God for His wondrous works.

In particular, he invited all the particular churches throughout the world to prepare priests and the faithful for Sacramental Confession, which should be readily available throughout the year.

In a special way, Pope Francis invited the the faithful of the Eastern Churches, especially those already in union with the Successor of Peter, to take part in the Jubilee, and to feel welcome in the city of Rome, noting how many are already “enduring their own way of the Cross,” forced to leave their lands by violence and instability.

‍Click here to read more about the Bull of Indication and the launch of the Jubilee Year, or here to read the full text of the Bull of Indication.

‍

Sources: Vatican News; The Holy See.